A Trip to the Golden Temple
During the winter of 2017, I was in Jammu. As the city is small, I became restive from seeing the same places every day. So I arranged a trip to Amritsar, which was just 217 kilometers away and accessible with a four lane highway. Being in love with driving on wide and long routes, I decided to go by my own car.
Believe me, on that highway, one should avoid the roadside restaurants as they overcharge for no valid reasons. Within four hours, I was at my destination.
A city with a lively cultural background and the heart of the Sikh religion, Amritsar is named after the Amrit Sarovar of the Golden Temple. Amritsar literally means “Pool of Nectar” and derives its name from Amrit Sarovar, the holy pond that surrounds the fabulous Golden Temple.
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When you are in Amritsar, or whenever you hear of this place, the first thing which comes to mind is what is popularly known as the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple or Harmandir Sahib or Darbar Sahib is a site where Guru Nanak used to meditate. It was not until the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjana, that the temple was built between 1588 and 1604. There, he completed transcribing the Adi Granth (the holy scripture of Sikhs) and installed it in the Gurdwara.
However, Punjab was frequented with uninvited foreign invaders till the 1900s. It became popularly known as “The Golden Temple” during 1830s, only after Maharaja Ranjit Singh covered its dome and upper floors in gold-plated copper sheets. It was repainted in gold in 1999.
On the way, you get to see a marketplace full of hustle and bustle with almost everything on offer. The one-kilometer stretch looks like a monumental place out of forgotten history and a walk through it evokes a feeling of being somewhere else in historic time.
High pedestals made out of white marble having intricate carvings of war scenes with small statues of Sikh generals on them. A huge statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh riding a horse with a sword in hand symbolizes the great historic period of Sikh glory.
The most fascinating fact about the temple is that it has four doors that signify the acceptance of all faiths. At every entrance to the temple, there is provision for the safekeeping of shoes and luggage of the devotees, free of cost. One just needs to get a token after depositing one’s shoes/belongings. One can feel the respect one is given when the volunteers, who are there for nothing but to earn a spiritual good, request to handover your shoes and keep them safe. The Gurdwara is surrounded by a beautiful holy spring known as Sarovar which the devotees believe contains an immortal nectar (Amrit), and they feel blessed and refreshed after taking a dip in it. However, swimming is not allowed in the tank.
“The Langar at
the Golden Temple
serves up to 200,000
people during special
religious events.”
Sri Harmandir Sahib is one of the largest free kitchens in the world. In Sikhism, the term Langar is used for any community kitchen in a Gurdwara, where free food is served to all its visitors, regardless of religion, caste, gender, economic status or ethnicity.
Also, there are sewadars (volunteers) almost in every corner of the premises; cleaning the floors, offering drinking water and ready to offer any kind of help in case you need it.
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After a local person suggested, “the golden temple looks beautiful in the morning”, I spent the night in its premises. When the dawn descended and the earliest rays of the sun reflected on the golden tomb, the view was telling. I feel short of words to explain the bliss that scene enveloped me in. One ought to visit the place to experience that feeling.
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